Related: Hands on: Android TV exorcises Google TV’s demons by finding its inner Xbox
According to a report from Advanced Television, IHS senior analyst Paul Erickson claims that Apple is in a much better position to be able to withstand competition from Android TV, primarily because the Apple TV is backed by a formidable content “ecosystem” (the iTunes Store) and a steadfast, almost rabid customer base that continues to expand with every successive iPhone release. Roku, on the other hand, lacks a deep and thorough wellspring of content to draw from, according to the report. While its not quite as poorly positioned as Roku, Amazon’s Fire TV does limit searching and content-discovery strictly to Amazon-sourced material, and users can only cast and mirror content via Amazon-branded tablets. These deficiencies could make Roku and Fire TV devices considerably more vulnerable to shifts in popularity and user preferences.
As Erickson notes, the Android TV’s entry into the market could shake things up within the set-top box/streaming media realm.
But all of these factors could amount to a moot point if consumers think “Google TV” when they see “Android TV.” And when you consider the recent entry of LG’s latest smart TV platform, WebOS, and an updated Apple TV model that theoretically could pounce at any moment (despite a really long wait), it’s not all that difficult to imagine Google TV’s more sophisticated successor having little impact on the flourishing streaming scene.
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